If you've read my book Restoring Harmony, then you may have noticed the dedication. It is to two of my favourite authors because they are brilliant storytellers. One of them is Nevil Shute (1899-1960). You may be a fan too, or you might not have heard of him at all,...

Today was a big day here! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNbp3395G1w As requested, there's more kitty cat in this video. The dog did pass by while we were working, but not while I was shooting this video.

We have a floor! Or at least, a bit of a floor. And a place to put a floor! Yippeee! This "snapshot" was taken by one of the cats, NOT the professional photographer that I live with. I mean, that's pretty obvious, right? Because a professional would never take a...

First, I want to thank you all for your lovely comments, emails of compassion and support, and memories of Kelly that you've been sending me. I really appreciate them and want you to know they helped me during a very trying time. One of the reason Kelly and I were...

Kelly Berthelot July 1989 - August 2011 Beta Reader Sous Chef Best Friend When you lose your best friend suddenly, sometimes you have to think of games to get yourself through the day or night. The one I've been playing with myself is, "What great things do I remember...

Yeah...I got a video camera. They're fun! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP3YvamxW-o I've been tweeting and talking to friends and family about my writing cabin that we're having built here on our property for me by my friend Patrick. I mentioned to a few of you that...

Thanks to everyone who left such great comments and entered the contest for Sarah Tradewell's new CD. In a totally random drawing, done by my husband, the winner is Elise Allen! Congratulations to Elise. I'll be sending you the signed CD along with a bit of my swag....

Sarah Tradewell is one of Canada's finest young fiddlers. She also looks exactly like the fiddle-playing character, Molly, in my book Restoring Harmony. But we met AFTER the book was written (before it sold). Sarah ended up being the fiddle expert for my book...

http://youtu.be/IUZbDKIfm84

My critique partner and I are both trying to finish drafts for 1 August. These are self-imposed deadlines, so I guess they're more like goals than actual deadlines, but every day we check in with each other and give encouragement. We also have two other people in our...

Last week, I met some teens who were visiting Grandma here on the island. They ended up buying my book at the local book store (Yay, indie bookstores!) and then they emailed me to ask if I might sign it before they go home. Today, we met up at the yurt where my...

A while back I mentioned that Restoring Harmony was reviewed in the David Suzuki Foundation newsletter, Finding Solutions. Well, we finally got around to scanning it, so I thought I'd share it with you. As far as I know, it's the only novel they've reviewed! Cool, eh?...

I got mine, have you got yours? You know you want Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma. There's not point trying to resist! Buy the book! Thanks to Maureen at Munro's in Victoria for sticking one aside for me!

Anyone in the biz, and anyone interested in the biz (the biz being young adult books), is probably up on the whole Washington Street Journal story from last week about dark YA and how it's harming our children. I'm actually going to refrain from commenting, for a...

As my husband has been known to say, "I'm so proud I could pop." The young authors in my writing program rocked the island with their stories last night. Not to mention their poise, humour, and professionalism. Mad Rona's Coffee Bar was SRO, and it's not a small...

I am very excited because today is a big day here on the island. All year, I have been working with students in a creative writing program once a week at the local school, and today they are having a book release party. That's right! They've written books. I am so...

If you live in Canada, it's pretty hard to imagine you've missed the events in Slave Lake, Alberta over the last week, but since a lot of you don't live here, I'll recap. To put it succinctly...forty percent of the town burned down in a forest fire on May 15th. And...

This photo was taken by my husband. It's me and one of my best friends, Kelly. We're celebrating the fact that Kelly just graduated from university and the same week, I got word that my book, Restoring Harmony, was picked up by Scholastic for the book club/fair/flier...